BK - The Nation's Stage John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

When the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opened in our nation’s capital on September 8, 1971, its mission was to be the “national center for the performing arts.” Forty years later the Center has succeeded in that mission and continues to celebrate it—countless times over—in every state and country around the world, and in the hearts and minds of millions of audience members, performers, and artists. In The Nation’s Stage, that history comes alive through a stirring historical and pictorial narrative

“I can’t imagine a more fitting tribute to my father than the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He and my mother envisioned a performing arts center that gave voice to America’s playwrights and composers, that offered a stage to its dancers and a seat to audiences seeking to include the arts in their lives.

President Kennedy said, ‘I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well.’ The Kennedy Center ensures that we are that much closer to fulfilling his vision for America.”
— Caroline Kennedy